I’m here on an employer-sponsored ARC. However, I’ve been contacted to do some one-off modelling/voice recording/translation jobs on the side. They’ve asked me to bring my ARC and passport and sign tax release forms but get paid in cash.
Am I correct in assuming this is illegal on my ARC? If they file my ARC and tax forms, would it be a violation of my work permit since they’re not my main employer, even if it’s just a one-time thing? I was told it’s okay because it’s a ‘side job’ and not a ‘second employer’, but want to clarify that before risking deportation.
Yes, it is very much illegal and as others have pointed out, one cannot do any other work besides that which one has been approved to do so in their work permit. You are only allowed to do work in the address as specified on your ARC. You cannot even do a demo for an English teaching job.
If your side job reports your income to the tax authorities & when the time comes to renew your ARC, you might have a problem as the Labor bureau will notice an unapproved income source and your work permit will be denied.
Then tell them to pay you directly in cash for this “One time, one day job”. I don’t understand why they need to go through the hassle of reporting this income unless they want you to work part time for them regularly. Do NOT, under any circumstances, give them your ARC and let them report your earnings.
Don’t you dare do modeling with an agency if you don’t have a work permit with them. I know multiple people who were under shithead agencies that used every tiny loop hole in the law to make sure they were deported for no reason other than the agency could make that happen
I highly doubt this. We’ve been having this discussion for years and I still know not of anyone having an issue like this. Nothing you tell the tax office gets passed to any other government body. If you have proof of this I’m all ears.
I personally also do not know of anyone who got caught while doing and getting paid for doing a side job, but then, they might be getting paid under the desk i.e their side income was not reported to the tax bureau and no 扣繳憑單 was ever issued. If the OP wants to risk this, then he/she is free to go ahead. It’s just a on-off thing so the chances of anything going wrong is pretty slim to zero.
The tax office will not voluntarily pass any of your information to NIA/WDA but the WDA needs to check the blue tax document during renewal and if there is anything on there that seems out of place or does not match with your approved income, they will ask questions. I had a slight problem with my tax a long time ago when I was on a work ARC and was almost denied a work permit renewal. Thank god my boss made things right asap…
Same if go the route of applying for APRC based on double the minimum salary. You would have to submit the tax statement from tax office and work permit history from the WDA to NIA that then do a review and could ask questions if there is income with no corresponding work permit.
Is the tax certificate still checked? It seems to come and go. I seem to remember taking it to immigration the last few times and they didn’t ask for it.
Immigration (NIA) does not check the tax cert. The WDA (Workforce Development Agency), which issues you the work permit, does when it comes time for your work permit renewal. If they deny you the work permit, then you wouldn’t even need to go to immigration (which issues you the ARC) as you will need to leave the country.
Supreme Administrative Court Judgment 108年度上字第1155號 (upholds Ministry of Labor order revoking work permit of Korean manager of software company who engaged in translation work at the company before he received work permit to be manager. Permanent ban on future work permits, fine of NT$30,000, and exit within 14 days).
The vast majority of orders revoking work permits are in the form of a confidential letter to the foreign employee and the employer. There are no public records. The only reliable source for these cases are administrative court judgments that exist only if the foreign employee of the employer appeals. Almost all of the appeals are denied. We simply don’t know if people moonlighting as editors or translators lose their work permits, are ordered to leave within 14 days , fined, become subject to an entry ban for a number of years, and are permanently prohibited from applying for a work permit again.
When you apply for work permit extension, you have to supply tax documents. These can and do trigger investigations. A number of people have recently been investigated for working illegally because of indiscreet information disclosed on Gold Card applications. Jealous colleagues or business rivals can report you. Much can go wrong. YMMV.
That’s almost true, but in some cases you would find 訴願 which are administrative appeals but not administrative court appeals, so they won’t be in the Judicial Yuan’s public database (check either the Executive Yuan or the relevant local government department). I seem to recall a few years ago I read one about someone who had been arrested for doing a teaching demo (and lost of course). The thread is probably still up somewhere.